National Clothesline

The most important piece of equipment that can enhance and sustain the finished garment is the vacuum.

Yet in some 80 percent of the plants I’ve visited, it is relegated to the furthest corner of the basement and almost useless.

Let’s take a physical check in your plant and see if the patients, your customers’ clothes, have been restored to good health and can are ready for release. After all, whether we want to admit it or not, we are in the restoration business.

Simply put, we want to make clothes look as good as new again. With that thought in mind, we should make it our business to tour a factory where new clothes are made, preferably men’s suits, and witness the many steps and procedures that are taken to insure long life through proper long-lasting finishing.

Many people are unaware that over 25 different shaped presses are used in the manufacture of a man’s suit. Many times a press is used to correct imperfections that the cutter or operator may have caused or some other failure to maintain the designer’s intentions.

Most of these presses are, of course, for production purposes, but all have one vital function — every press has a strong and efficient vacuum to remove all traces of moisture and permanently set that shape for as long as possible.

Sometimes the simplest things escape our attention, but I came to realize they are selling new suits and that a jacket may be tried on as many as 200 times before it is sold. Imagine, if you will, a perspired customer taking a jacket off and on an tossing it over a rack if not satisfied or carrying it for 10 minutes or more while he shops for something more to his liking.

A cheap suit is under $300 today and we would certainly not buy something that looks shop-worn, wrinkled or not to its best appearance.

A good vacuum not only “sets” the shape but assures a new look will be maintained, even after numerous try-ons.

Can the drycleaner learn from the garment manufacturer?

Let’s go back and inspect a suit coat from an order that’s over a month old.

Is the lapel rippled? The pocket flaps? It certainly was not inspected and bagged up in that condition!

Now we can investigate further starting with a production piece-work presser. The place to boost production would be to cheat on vacuum time. Who’s to challenge whether the presser dries for one second or five? It will not show on the jacket, at least not immediately.

Only several days later will the moisture release itself, trapped by a plastic bag or the open end of the bag absorbing more moisture with a floor-to-ceiling conveyor.

Let’s not just pick on our loyal and conscientious presser.

Most vacuums are in the basement and have never been inspected since they were purchased. Please be aware for every eight feet of running vacuum line, we lose about 1⁄4 HP and for every 90° or 45° turn another 1⁄4 HP. I have witnessed a properly sized two-inch pipe reduced to 1 1⁄2 inch, and there goes another half. What started out as a five press vacuum may not even carry two presses, and that’s when it was new.

How can we test the vacuum? For a simple, practical test, take a tabloid-size newspaper, lay it on the buck, press your foot on the vacuum and pull towards you. If your vacuum is in any kind of shape, the paper should rip with the first tug.

To test further, start checking from the press backward to the vacuum and use a process of elimination. Each flaw would reduce the vacuum’s total effectiveness.

Do we want our quality upgraded and our work to look like new? Check the vacuum; it is either our best salesman or a silent thief that robs us of referral customers and stops the growth of our livelihood.

What makes a vacuum a silent thief? It is much like a faucet dripping or uninsulated steam lines. The loss is continuous and relentless.

Perhaps what bothers me the most are some startling facts or revelations with a manufacturer and distributor who both set out to layout a productive and profitable plant that at least on design will make money. To insure that success, this sophisticated equipment will be installed by experts with the guarantee of years of dependable performance.

But what takes place in the real world of quality and production?

1. Little or no drying and vacuum.

2. Press paddings that should be changed weeks or months sooner and quite simply destroy all the talent and research that was programmed into the well-pressed garment.

Please forgive me for stressing the human as well as the mechanical error, but rockets to the moon have been known to fail for each of those reasons.

Vacuum is the King of Quality! I truly believe that quality is an ongoing and continuous battle never to be finally won and never to be taken for granted.